The Hulu show, which drops Wednesday, follows Charlie as he balances family and the deceitful world of psychics.

“They hide in plain sight, on every street corner with their neon garish signs, or they have their boards, and we drive by these shops all the time and we pay them no mind. I don't know anybody goes into them. How do they prosper when it says $10 and they're renting in Beverly Hills?” Donovan told the Daily News.

“When it was pitched to me by (creator Les Bohem), that was his first inkling into something shady. I read his first three episodes and I was hooked. Not just because of that initial concept but because I want to know where this series could go.”

“Shut Eye” begins as a simple story of a failed Vegas magician trying to earn for his wife (KaDee Strickland) and son (Dylan Schmid) by tricking unsuspecting suckers into overpaying for palm readings.

Donovan coyly declined to reveal whether he’d visited psychics himself, but said his research led him to parallels between tarot cards and religion.

“We, as humans, crave knowing there's something bigger than this existence, that there’s not a finality to this life. Religion has tapped into this. Gypsies, in their niche market, have tapped into this desire,” the 48-year-old actor said. “They know about the afterlife, or if something good is coming, or something bad to avoid.”

The con falls apart after a brutal beating leaves Charlie seeing colors and visions — and with no idea what’s real anymore.

The show’s familial issues don’t stop at the Haverfords: the Romani family running the psychic ring in California, led by Isabella Rossellini’s Rita, have their own ideas of paying dues.

“It's not ‘The Sopranos.’ They’re not trying to con people in ‘The Sopranos.’ You have a very old cultish civilization that rules over a certain type of people. That's the Marks family,” Donovan told The News. “They have a hold on this territory, much like a mob. It's a racket. They're trying to make a business, but they employ people who run scams.

Donovan, shown here with on-screen wife KaDee Strickland, said the undiscovered world of psychics drew him to the Hulu show.

(Hulu)

“Who's scamming whom? When someone speaks to you, are they playing you?”

There are no heroes in “Shut Eye.” At best, Charlie is an anti-hero. But his redeeming qualities come in his defense of his family

“I think what's fascinating about Charlie is that he's not a very likable character. Linda (Strickland), Fonso (Angus Sampson), Rita (Rossellini), these people are despicable in what they're doing,” Donovan told The News.

“Our job is to find what's attractive in them, not just to other people but to the viewer. Charlie gets the benefit of the doubt: he’s doing bad things for the wrong reason. He’s taking care of his family. He’s a failed magician with a marriage on the rocks who’s just trying to get out from under the thumb of a very brutal gypsy family rule.”